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Indian Trust Reform Hearing

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Indian Trust Reform Hearing S. HRG. 109–16 INDIAN TRUST REFORM HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON VIEWS OF THE ADMINISTRATION AND INDIAN COUNTRY OF HOW THE SYSTEM OF INDIAN TRUST MANAGEMENT, MANAGEMENT OF FUNDS AND NATURAL RESOURCES, MIGHT BE REFORMED MARCH 9, 2005 WASHINGTON, DC ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 99–967 PDF WASHINGTON : 2005 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS JOHN McCAIN, Arizona, Chairman BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota, Vice Chairman PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming KENT CONRAD, North Dakota GORDON SMITH, Oregon DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota MICHAEL D. CRAPO, Idaho MARIA CANTWELL, Washington RICHARD BURR, North Carolina TOM COBURN, M.D., Oklahoma JEANNE BUMPUS, Majority Staff Director SARA G. GARLAND, Minority Staff Director (II) C O N T E N T S Page Statements: Cason, Jim, acting assistant secretary for Indian affairs, Department of the Interior ................................................................................................ 3 Colombe, Charles, president, Rosebud Sioux Tribe ....................................... 15 Dorgan, Byron L., U.S. Senator from North Dakota, vice chairmanm, Committee on Indian Affairs ....................................................................... 2 Gray, Jim, chairman, board of directors, Intertribal Monitoring Associa- tion ................................................................................................................. 12 Hall, Tex, president, National Congress of American Indians ..................... 10 Harper, Keith, Native American Rights Fund ............................................... 19 Hillaire, Darrell, chairman, Lummi Nation ................................................... 17 McCain, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from Arizona, chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs ........................................................................................... 1 Swimmer, Ross, special trustee for American Indians, Department of the Interior .................................................................................................... 3 APPENDIX Prepared statements: Cason, Jim (with attachment) ......................................................................... 30 Cobell, Elouise, C., Lead Plaintiff in Cobell v. Norton .................................. 81 Colombe, Charles (with attachment) .............................................................. 98 Gray, Jim .......................................................................................................... 27 Hall, Tex ............................................................................................................ 107 Hillaire, Darrell (with attachment) ................................................................. 117 Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe (with attachment) ............................................... 204 Swimmer, Ross (with attachment) .................................................................. 30 (III) INDIAN TRUST REFORM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2005 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 11 a.m. in room 485, Senate Russell Building, Hon. John McCain (chairman of the com- mittee) presiding. Present: Senators McCain, Akaka, Cantwell, Dorgan, Inouye, Johnson, Murkowski, Smith, and Thomas. STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN MCCAIN, U.S. SENATOR FROM ARIZONA, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS The CHAIRMAN. We will now begin our hearing on trust reform. Our first witness is Jim Cason, who is the acting assistant sec- retary for Indian affairs. He is accompanied by Ross Swimmer, spe- cial trustee for American Indians, Department of the Interior. The subject of Indian trust management reform has been an issue of considerable issue to Congress and to this committee for over a decade. In 1994, Congress enacted the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act with the expectation of bring- ing order to at least one aspect of the Federal Government’s trust responsibility to Indian people, the management of tribal and indi- vidual Indian moneys held in trust accounts. About 2 years later, the Cobell case class action lawsuit was filed. In the years since then, we have all learned just what a sorry state the trust fund management system was in. The reasons for this are manifold, I am sure, but most people would agree that for many decades the Federal Government has not been held account- able for its management practices. This hearing is not directly about the Cobell lawsuit, although trust reform should be a component of any legislation to resolve the case and problems that led to it. The purpose of today’s hearing is to listen to the views of the Administration and Indian country of how the system of Indian trust management, management of funds and natural resources, might be reformed. I am interested in hear- ing from the Administration on what it has done to improve trust management and what additional steps it intends to take, because it is no secret that many in Indian country are not satisfied in whole or in part with the Administration’s approach and have dif- ferent views about the direction we should be going in reforming the system. (1) 2 I also look forward to hearing what the tribal leaders and Ms. Cobell on the second panel have to say about reforming the system. One more point before proceeding. Several times in recent months I have promised to make trust reform, including the settle- ment of the Cobell case and related issues, a high priority during my tenure as chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, but I will also repeat here that I intend to give it only one good shot. If it looks like we are not getting anywhere, if the tribes, the Govern- ment, or other interested parties cannot come to terms on a settle- ment of the lawsuit and on what trust reform should be, then I will leave that task to a future Congress and the courts and concentrate my efforts on other important issues in Indian country. I am hoping that the Administration and Indian country will begin working with committee staff immediately to see whether something close to a consensus can be reached on the key compo- nents of trust reform. This will probably require an efficient, but representative working group within Indian Country to begin help- ing us shape a bill that can be introduced for review and comment by all stakeholders. Vice Chairman Dorgan, do you have a statement at this time? STATEMENT OF HON. BYRON L. DORGAN, U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA, VICE CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS Senator DORGAN. Mr. Chairman, let me say that I share your sentiments. It is the case that we cannot solve this issue. Chair- man McCain and I and other members of this committee cannot re- solve this issue. The parties to this issue must find a way to de- velop consensus to resolve this issue. I do not think there is any question but that what is happening now is having a detrimental impact on Indian country. We see sharp cuts in some of the tribal programs that are critically impor- tant to Indian tribes for the welfare of the Indian people in this country. We see those sharp cuts in part as a result of the litiga- tion. In my judgment, more and more funds are going to both sides of the litigation. In some ways, I guess in many ways, the Indian people are bearing the burden of the costs for both sides of the liti- gation. I think that the settlement of these claims, the settlement of this issue is imperative. My hope is that through the process of this hearing and through the development of other approaches, that we can find a way for us to get all the parties together to reach a con- sensus and put this behind us. If we do not, it will have an impact on virtually everything this committee does, all the appropriations that we are involved in with respect to Indian tribes for years to come. I don’t think any of us want that. What we want is a fair, thoughtful, equitable settlement that all parties can agree to, and then we move on. So Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for your leadership. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. Welcome, Mr. Cason. Welcome back, Mr. Swimmer. Please pro- ceed. 3 STATEMENT OF JIM CASON, ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, AC- COMPANIED BY ROSS SWIMMER, SPECIAL TRUSTEE FOR AMERICAN INDIANS Mr. CASON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Jim Cason. I am the associate deputy secretary of the Department, and currently I have delegated authorities of the assistant secretary of Indian affairs while we are searching for a new assistant secretary. I am accompanied by Ross Swimmer, who is the special trustee for American Indians. We intend to give a very short opening statement and then go ahead and get on with questions. We would like to have our written testimony entered into the record, if that would be satisfactory. The CHAIRMAN. Without objection. Mr. CASON. We would commend the written testimony for read- ing. We think it gives a pretty detailed explanation of some of the problems that we think are inherent to the trust. The Indian trusts had origins with the formation with the forma- tion and expansion of our country. It first began with tribes and in 1887 the United States began a trust relationship
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